HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines will offer its first non-stop service between Los Angeles and the islands of Kauai and Hawaii during next summer’s peak travel period. The new annual service, in response to growing demand, will commence between Los Angeles
HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines will offer its first non-stop service between Los Angeles and the islands of Kauai and Hawaii during next summer’s peak travel period.
The new annual service, in response to growing demand, will commence between Los Angeles and Lihue, Kauai four times a week, and Los Angeles and Kona, Hawaii Island three times a week, starting in 2014 from June 26 to Sept. 19.
It will add more than 22,000 seats to both island travel markets over 12 weeks of service, and complements the new Oakland service that will also start next summer with direct flights to Lihue and Kona for 10 weeks.
“We are pleased to be supporting both Kauai and Big Island’s visitor industries with this new summer service and offering island residents direct access to Los Angeles,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian Airlines executive vice president and chief commercial officer.
The move was good news to Kauai Chamber of Commerce President Randy Francisco and Kauai Visitors Bureau Executive Director Sue Kanoho.
More visitors arrive and leave Kauai via Hawaiian than any other airline.
For fiscal years 2008 to 2012, nearly 7 million people arrived at and departed from Lihue Airport on Hawaiian Airlines.
“Together with the launch of Oakland-Lihue service also in June, these two new direct flights will add additional capacity to our island’s economic development and further add to our visitors and mainland Ohana needs to get even closer to Kauai in a more timely manner,” Francisco said.
He said Hawaiian Airlines President/CEO Mark Dunkerley three years ago expressed Hawaiian’s long term and strategic commitment to Kauai.
“This is another example of their long term vision. As Kauai recovers from the recession, Hawaiian continues to align its long term plans with the rest of the neighbor islands and this is another opportune time for these two added flights,” he said.
Kanoho it was exciting to see Hawaiian Airlines expand their transpacific flights with direct service to Lihue from Los Angeles, one of Kauai’s top markets.
“We look forward to welcoming the inaugural flight with Kauai’s special touch of aloha in June 2014,” she said.
The new Los Angeles service will be operated by Hawaiian Airlines’ wide-body, twin-aisle Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. With the addition of the service, both Lihue Airport and Kona International Airport will have a Hawaiian Airlines wide-body aircraft arriving every day of the week next summer.
